In this series we’ll take a fresh look at resources and how they are used. We’ll go beyond natural resources like air and water to look at how efficiency in raw materials can boost the bottom line and help the environment. We’ll also examine the circular economy and design for reuse — with an eye toward honoring those resources we do have.

While changes at home can’t solve the many environmental crises we face today, they can sure help. Through this series, we’ll explore how initiatives like curbside compost pick-up, rebates on compost bins, and efficient appliances can help families reduce their impact without breaking the bank.

Despite decades -- centuries even -- of global efforts, slavery can still be found not just on the high seas, but around the world and throughout various supply chains. Through this series on forced labor, sponsored by C&A Foundation, we’ll explore many different types of bonded and forced labor and highlight industries where this practice is alive and well today.

In this series we examine how companies should respond to national controversy like police violence and the BLM movement to best support employees and how can companies work to improve equality by increasing diversity in their ranks directly.

Compost is often considered a panacea for the United States’ tremendous food waste problem. Indeed, composting is a much better option than putting spoiled food in a garbage can destined for a landfill.

While still not officially confirmed, the buzz from those in the know is that Van Jones, green visionary and founder of Green For All, will be tapped as president Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar.”

A central focus of the Obama administration’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Plan is the creation of 3.5 million new jobs as well as providing $500 million “to prepare workers for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy.”

In terms of green jobs and building the green economy, Van is the Man. Through his work at Green for All and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which he founded in 1998, Jones’ work has been a force for both human rights and the environment. Jones is a firm believer that doing right by the earth and creating a green economy will help “lift millions out of poverty.”

It’s just this brand of visionary that can also help lift a beleaguered economy into a new, sustainable, and prosperous future. The triple bottom line goes to Washington.

TriplePundit will have more on this story as it develops.

Tom is the founder, editor, and publisher of GlobalWarmingisReal.com and the TDS Environmental Media Network. He has been a contributor for Triple Pundit since 2007. Tom has also written for Slate, Earth911, the Pepsico Foundation, Cleantechnia, Planetsave, and many other sustainability-focused publications. He is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists

10 responses

Van Jones is an excellent choice as the new Green Czar. He understands what it takes to move our nation into a Green economy. Plus, Mr. Jones has of knack of taking a complex issue like renewable energy and explaining it in a way where a professor and a barber can understand it. kevin Locketthttp://www.hirejam.com green jobs for a green state

Congrats to Van and the Obama administration’s effort to shift to a green economy. What’s sad is the utter denial of quasi-environmentalists in the modern green movement – that somehow we can “have our cake and eat it too.” When will we come to grips with the reality that modern industrial society is inherently unsustainable as it requires vast quantities of inputs (raw materials, i.e. nature) and results in unsustainable levels of pollution. NO AMOUNT OF SUBSTITUTION will ever alleviate this reality, only slow the inevitable collapse of ecosystems that continue to be under assualt based on human population growth and the never-ending pursuit of prosperity by humans. What we really need is a steady-state economy with a massive re-distribution of wealth to lift people out of poverty. To achieve the same via traditional GDP growth will be an environmental disaster. We’ll find out one way or another. Best wishes, Van – I hope you’ll eventually figure this out and spare us all a lot of cost and frustration!

Incredible news! When I first saw him speak, and having read his book, I knew this guy was White House bound! Congratulations to him, and we can now be assured that the green jobs dream will come to fruition, for those in the inner city, as well as the rest of us.

How sad this appointment is! I would like to have his “civil rights” activity more clearly defined. For when it is, those of you wearing green sunglasses can see this man for what her really is – a fake who is in this for his own glory and not for the good of the US. What does someone in San Francisco know about the global good and what is best for the whole country?

How sad this appointment is! I would like to have his “civil rights” activity more clearly defined. For when it is, those of you wearing green sunglasses can see this man for what her really is – a fake who is in this for his own glory and not for the good of the US. What does someone in San Francisco know about the global good and what is best for the whole country?

How sad this appointment is! I would like to have his “civil rights” activity more clearly defined. For when it is, those of you wearing green sunglasses can see this man for what her really is – a fake who is in this for his own glory and not for the good of the US. What does someone in San Francisco know about the global good and what is best for the whole country?